Five35 Ventures secured an undisclosed anchor investment from the Mastercard Foundation Africa Growth Fund (MFAGF), betting that a female-focused African VC can deliver both returns and impact. The firm was reportedly seeking to raise $30 million in 2022.
MFAGF is a $200 million fund-of-funds that backs various investment vehicles that finance SMEs and early-stage startups in Sub-Saharan Africa. Five35 joins a small group of venture funds, including Sahel Capital, that have raised capital from the MFAGF. This isn’t about hypeโMFAGF’s diligence process is notoriously rigorous. Getting this backing signals Five35 passed institutional-grade scrutiny that most African funds never clear.
Five35’s track record justifies the bet. The fund’s investments have already generated more than 1,400 jobs across Africa and attracted over USD $75 million in follow-on capital from a portfolio of just 16 companies. That’s $4.7M in follow-on capital per portfolio companyโfar above African VC averages. Five35 provides early-stage startups with seed investments of up to $500,000 through SAFEs, positioning at the gap between pre-seed and Series A where female founders face the steepest drop-off.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: female-founded startups raised just over 2% of total startup funding in Q1 2025, with only $10 million across all of Africa. Five35 is building a female-focused portfolio in a market where female founders get ratioed 50:1 by male founders in funding. The bet assumes there’s massive untapped alpha in overlooked female founders. But what if the funding gap reflects LP preferences that won’t change, not founder quality? Five35 must prove female-focused isn’t just impact theaterโit’s actually better dealflow.
Watch deployment velocity and follow-on rounds. If Five35 deploys $15M+ across 30 companies within 18 months and those companies raise follow-on rounds at 2-3x markups, MFAGF will likely double down and other institutional LPs will follow. If deployment stalls or existing portfolio companies struggle to raise Series A, this becomes another well-intentioned gender-lens fund that couldn’t scale beyond its initial believers.
